Director-general of Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development for the ACT government Dorte Ekelund has announced she will not renew her contract, which is due to expire in mid-April.
Ms Ekelund, who also headed the now-axed Major Cities Unit, has been in the top job for four years, and has been involved in planning in the ACT for around 18 years.
Ms Ekelund told The Canberra Times she was not retiring, but that it was time to “slow down” and work on smaller projects, travel, sit on boards and maybe teach.
“I’ve worked full-time since I was 18, so that’s 35 years, and did both degrees while I was working full-time and someone raised the concept of a ‘grown-up gap year’ with me and I thought, ‘Wow, that sounds good,’” she was reported as saying.
“I’ve spent 18 years in the same jurisdiction and it’s a full-on job. I love it – 540 staff and a $350 million budget – and to do the job well, requires a lot of time and effort and that usually means working in the morning before work and working into the night and working on weekends.
“I just think it’s time to slow down a little bit but I’m not retiring per se.”